Long term intravenous therapy to a patient oftentimes requires that a portal reservoir (may also be referred to as a port or portal) be implanted to a subject patient. The medicament stored in the portal is fed slowly to the patient via a catheter connected to the portal. To refill the portal, conventionally a needle or cannula is inserted through the skin of the patient into a self-sealing septum of the portal so that the portal may be refilled with the desired medicament. So, too, the fluid in the portal may be retrieved by the needle.
Prior to the instant invention, portal access needles usually have a predetermined fixed length. For the most part, the successful insertion of an access needle into the portal depends on the skill of the clinician in locating the portal by palpating and then inserting the access needle into the portal. However, there are instances where the length of the access needle may be too long for a particular portal, so that the tip of the needle ends up being bent, when the access needle device is fully placed onto the skin of the patient. There are also instances where possibly due to the depth in which the portal is implanted in the patient, and also whether the patient is obese, the tip of the access needle may end up not fully penetrating through the septum that seals the portal. In either scenario, a fluid path for either infusing the portal with medicament or for withdrawing fluid stored in the portal could not be established.
There is therefore a need for means to, and method therefor, of varying the length of an access needle so that the needle may be adapted to establish a fluid path to the portal irrespective of dimensional variations relating to the portal that the access needle may encounter.